Easter Sunday
Exodus, Chapter 14, Verse 30-31
30 Thus the LORD saved Israel on
that day from the power of Egypt. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on
the seashore 31 and saw the great power that the
LORD had shown against Egypt, the people FEARED
the LORD. They believed in the LORD and in Moses his
servant.
The Hebrew’s after the crossing of the red sea and seeing Gods great power feared Him with human fear, but not Holy fear. There was no love towards God, only fear. God desires a spiritual union with us; therefore, our belief must be mingled with great love and affection. This is why later Israel would make the golden calf since their hearts were dead to God after 400 years in Egypt.
What was it about Egypt that enslaved the Israelites even after they were freed by God?
Egypt was rich, so rich that even the Israelites were as self-indulgent as the Egyptians. It meant a daily life of giving in to your desires and the brief enjoyments of this passing life. They only thought of satisfying themselves with no thought of He that Is. They made faint offerings to false gods to justify their behavior. Their minds became weak and confused. Their mistakes and sins robbed them of peace that only comes from doing the will of He that Is. We only find peace and happiness when we are in union with God and doing His Holy will. We are created by God for eternal happiness with Him. Things cannot bring us happiness.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
and you shall love the Lord your
God with all your Heart,
and with all your soul,
and with your entire mind,
and with all your strength.
Power of Egypt[1]
The power of Egypt was the worship of demons back thousands of
years ago. The occult still is around today and just as in the Holy Church,
some official rites are required and are tied to particular feast days. The
most important is Halloween, which falls on the night between October 31 and
November 1 of each year: it is considered the magic New Year. Therefore, it is
necessary to understand the extreme danger for our children and youth who participate
in the feast of Halloween on that date. The second precedes our feast of the
presentation of Jesus in the Temple on February 2. The night before, in fact,
begins the magic spring. We need not fear but look with love to our Lord.
Daily
Devotions/Prayers
·
Drops of Christ’s Blood[2] St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary,
with St. Matilda and St. Bridget, wishing to know something of the Passion of
Jesus Christ, offered fervent and special prayers. Upon which Our Lord revealed
to them:
To all the faithful who shall
recite for 3 years, each day, 2 Our Fathers, 2 Hail Mary’s and
2 Glory Be’s in honor of the drops of Blood I lost, I will concede the
following 5 graces:
1.
The
plenary indulgence and remittance of your sins.
2.
You
will be free from the pains of Purgatory.
3.
If
you should die before completing the said 3 years, for you it will be the same
as if you had completed them.
4.
It
will be upon your death the same as if you had shed all your blood for the Holy
Faith.
5. I will descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives, until the fourth generation.
Blessed by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII in Rome, April 5, 1890
The thought of saving souls should always be on our mind. St. John Bosco stated it well. "There is nothing more holy in this world than to work for the good of souls, for whose salvation Jesus Christ poured out the last drops of His blood." St. Vincent de Paul tells us that: "The salvation of men and our own are so great a good that they merit to be obtained at any price."
Sad to say, the great majority of Catholics put forth little or no effort in promoting the greater honor and glory of God and the salvation of souls. Let us keep in mind that if we manage to save one soul, we also ensure the salvation of our own. The Holy Ghost reveals this to us in the Holy Bible. [St. James 5: 19-20] This little practice gives us a very easy way to save our own soul as well as the ones dearest to us------our family.
ON KEEPING THE LORDS DAY HOLY[3]
CHAPTER II
DIES CHRISTI
The Day of the Risen Lord
and of the Gift
of the Holy Spirit
A day of solidarity
69. Sunday should also give the
faithful an opportunity to devote themselves to works of mercy, charity and
apostolate. To experience the joy of the Risen Lord deep within is to share
fully the love which pulses in his heart: there is no joy without love! Jesus
himself explains this, linking the "new commandment" with the gift of
joy: "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I
have kept the Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you
this that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my
commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you" (Jn
15:10-12).
The Sunday Eucharist, therefore, not
only does not absolve the faithful from the duties of charity, but on the
contrary commits them even more "to all the works of charity, of mercy, of
apostolic outreach, by means of which it is seen that the faithful of Christ
are not of this world and yet are the light of the world, giving glory to the
Father in the presence of men".
Easter Sunday[4]
WHAT is the feast of
Easter?
The celebration of the day on which
Jesus Christ, according to the predictions both of Himself and the prophets, by
His almighty power, reunited His body and soul, and arose alive from the grave.
Why is Easter Sunday
sometimes called Pasch or Passover?
It is from the Latin Pascha, and
the Hebrew Phase, meaning “the passing over” because the destroyer of the
firstborn in Egypt passed over the houses of the Israelites who had sprinkled
the transom and posts of the door with the blood of the paschal lamb and
because the Jews were in that same night delivered from bondage, passing over
through the Red Sea into the land of promise. Now we Christians are by the
death and resurrection of Christ redeemed and passed over to the freedom of the
children of God, so we call the day of His resurrection Pasch or Passover.
How should we observe
the feast of Easter?
We observe the feast in such manner
as to confirm our faith in Jesus Christ and in His Church, and to pass over
from the death of sin to the new life of grace.
What is the meaning
of Alleluia, so often repeated at Eastertime?
“Alleluia”
means “Praise God.” In the Introit of the Mass of the day the Church introduces
Jesus Christ as risen, addressing His heavenly Father as follows “I rose up and
am still with Thee, alleluia; Thou hast laid Thy hand upon Me, alleluia. Lord,
thou hast proved me, and know me; Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising
up.”
Prayer.
O God, who this day didst open to
us the approach to eternity by Thy only Son victorious over death, prosper by
Thy grace our vows, which Thou dost anticipate by Thy inspirations.
EPISTLE, i. Cor. v.
7, 8.
Brethren:
Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened.
For Christ, our Pasch, is sacrificed. Therefore, let us feast, not with the old
leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
Explanation.
The Apostle selected the leaven as
a type of the moral depravity from which the Christian community and every
individual Christian should be free. Let us, therefore, purge out the old
leaven of sin by true penance, that we may receive our Paschal Lamb, Jesus, in
the Most Holy Eucharist with a pure heart.
GOSPEL. Mark xvi.
1-7.
At that time:
Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that
coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of
the week, they came to the sepulcher, the sun being now risen. And they said
one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the
sepulcher?
And looking, they
saw the stone rolled back: for it was very great. And entering into the
sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white
robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted: you seek
Jesus of Nazareth, Who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here: behold the
place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth
before you into Galilee: there you shall see Him, as He told you.
Why did the holy women desire to
anoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices?
The
women wanted to anoint Jesus’ body out of love for him. This love God rewarded
by sending to them an angel, who rolled back the great stone from before the
mouth of the sepulcher, comforted them, and convinced them that Christ was
really raised from the dead. From this we learn that God always consoles those
who seek Him. The angel sent the holy women to the disciples to console them
for Christ’s death, and in order that they might make known His resurrection to
the world. St. Peter was specially named not only because he was the head of
the apostles, but because he was sadder and more dispirited than the others on
account of his denial of Our Savior.
How did Our Savior prove that He
was really risen from the dead?
Our
Lord proved Himself risen by showing Himself first to the holy women, then to
His disciples, and finally to five hundred persons at once. His disciples not
only saw Him, but ate and drank with Him, not once only, but repeatedly, and
for forty days.
It
was through combat and inexpressible sufferings that Our Savior gained victory.
So also, with us we gain heaven only by labor, combat, and sufferings shall we
win the crown of eternal life; though redeemed by Christ from the servitude of
Satan and sin, we shall not be able to enter the kingdom of Christ unless,
after His example and by His grace, we fight till the end against the flesh,
the devil, and the world; for only he that perseveres to the end shall receive
the crown (n. Tim. ii. 5).
Easter Calendar[5]
Read: Easter does not just last for a
day! Take time to read about the span of the Easter season today.
Reflect: Take extra time with the readings
today practicing lectio divina. . . .
Pray: O God, who on this day, through
your Only Begotten Son, have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to
eternity, grant, we pray, that we who keep the solemnity of the Lord's
Resurrection may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, rise up in the
light of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns
with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect,
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord, Mass During the Day, Roman Missal, Third Edition, International
Commission on English Liturgy)
Act: Christ is Risen! Spread the Good
News!
Paschaltide[6]
This is the day the Lord hath made;
let us be glad and rejoice therein. - Ps. 117.24
With
this antiphon, the Church proclaims Easter Sunday the greatest day of the year.
For the Christian believer every day is, of course, a celebration of Jesus
Christ's resurrection from the dead, as is every Mass. Yet daily rejoicing
pales in comparison to that of the Sunday Mass, since Sunday is the day that
the resurrection took place, the "eighth" day of the week signifying
a new creation and a new life. And these Sundays of the year, in turn, are
dwarfed by Easter, the Feast of Feasts celebrated in the newness of the vernal
moon and in the rebirth of springtime. Easter is the Christian day par
excellence.
The
commemoration of our Lord's physical resurrection from the dead provides not only
the crucial resolution to the Passion story, but to several liturgical themes
stretching back over the past two months.
·
Easter
ends the seventy days of Babylonian exile begun on Septuagesima Sunday by restoring the Temple that was destroyed on Good
Friday, i.e. the body of Jesus Christ.
·
It
ends the forty days of wandering in the desert begun on Ash Wednesday by giving us the Promised Land of eternal life.
·
It
ends the fourteen days of concealment and confusion during Passiontide
by revealing the divinity of Jesus Christ and the meaning of His cryptic
prophecies.
·
It
ends the seven days of Holy Week
by converting our sorrow over the crucifixion into our jubilance about the
resurrection.
·
And
it ends the three days of awesome mystery explored during the sacred Triduum by
celebrating the central mystery of our faith: life born from death, ultimate
good from unspeakable evil. It is for this reason that all the things that had
been instituted at one point or another during the past penitential seasons
(the purple vestments or the veiled images) are dramatically removed, while all
the things that had been successively suppressed (the Alleluia, the Gloria in
excelsis, several Gloria Patri's, or the bells) are dramatically restored.
The
Easter season (or Paschaltide, as it is traditionally known) is not an
undifferentiated block of joy but one that consists of several distinct stages.
The first is the Easter Octave, lasting from Easter Sunday to the former "Low"
Sunday which is now Divine Mercy Sunday. These eight days comprise a prolonged
rejoicing in our Savior's victory over death and in the eternal life given to
the newly baptized converts. In fact, Christian initiates used to receive a
white robe upon their baptism on Holy Saturday night and would wear it for the
rest of the week. They would take off these symbols of their new life on the
following Sunday, which in Latin is called Dominica in albis depositis as a
result of this practice. (The English name, Low Sunday, was used as a contrast
to the high mark of Easter). For centuries the first Sunday after Easter was
also the day when children would receive their first Holy Communion, often with
their father and mother kneeling beside them. So meaningful was this event that
in Europe it was referred to as the "most beautiful day of life."
(Significantly, both customs are encapsulated in Low Sunday's stational church,
the basilica of St. Pancras (see Station Days):
St. Pancras, a twelve-year-old martyr, is the patron saint of children and
neophytes).
Paschaltide Customs
The Easter Kiss and Greeting.
The day that the risen Christ
appeared to His apostles, breathed the Spirit on them, and wished them peace is
the day that Christians greet each other with special fraternal affection.
Early Latin Christians embraced each other on Easter with the greeting, Surrexit
Dominus vere ("The Lord is truly risen"). The appropriate
response is Deo gratias ("Thanks be to God"). Greek
Christians, on the other hand, say, Christos aneste ("Christ is
risen"), to which is answered, Alethos aneste ("Truly He is
risen"). The mutual kiss and embrace last throughout the Easter Octave.
Blessings.
There was a time in both the
Eastern and Western churches that no one would dream of eating unblessed food
on Easter. Priests would either visit families on Holy Saturday night and bless
the spread made ready for the following day, or they would bless the food
brought to church after the Easter Sunday Mass. The old Roman ritual attests to
this tradition by its title for Food Blessings: Benedictiones Esculentorum, Praesertim
in Pascha - "The Blessings of Edibles, especially for
Easter".
New
Clothes & the Easter Parade.
Most people are familiar with the
old-fashioned images of ladies bedecked in crisp new bonnets and dapper escorts
during the annual Easter parade. What at first blush appears to be no more than
a spectacle of vanity, however, is a combination of two deeply religious
practices. The first is the custom of wearing new clothes for
Easter. This stems from the ancient practice of newly baptized Christians
wearing a white garment from the moment of their baptism during the Easter
Vigil until the following week. The rest of the faithful eventually followed
suit by wearing something new to symbolize the new life brought by the death
and resurrection of Christ. Hence an old Irish saying: "For Christmas,
food and drink; for Easter, new clothes." There was even a superstition
that bad luck would come to those who could afford new clothes for Easter but
did not buy them. The second practice is the Easter walk, in which
the faithful (mostly couples) would march through town and country as a part of
a religious procession. A crucifix or the Paschal candle would often lead the
way, and the entourage would make several stops in order to pray or sing hymns.
The rest of the time would be spent in light banter. This custom became
secularized after the Reformation and thus became the "Easter parade"
so popular before the 1960s.
Easter
Eggs.
Two kinds of activities (besides
eating) surround this famous feature of Paschal celebration. The first is the decoration
of the egg, a custom that goes back to the first centuries of
Christianity. Colored dyes are the easiest way this is done, though different
customs from various cultures sometimes determine which colors are used. The
Chaldean, Syrian, and Greek Christians, for example, give each other scarlet
eggs in honor of the most precious blood of Christ. Other nations, such as the
Ukrainians and Russians, are famous for their beautiful and ornate egg
decorations. Egg games are also a familiar part of Easter merriment.
Most Americans are familiar with the custom of Easter egg hunts,
but there are other forms as well. Egg-pecking is a game
popular in Europe and the Middle East (not to mention the White House lawn),
where hard-boiled eggs are rolled against each other on the lawn or down a
hill; the egg left uncracked at the end is proclaimed the "victory
egg."
The Dancing Sun.
There is an old legend that the sun
dances for joy or makes three cheerful jumps on Easter morning. In England and
Ireland families would place a pan of water in the east window to watch the
dancing rays mirrored on it. Other "sun" customs involve some kind of
public gathering at sunrise. Greeting the daybreak with cannons, gunfire,
choirs, or band music was once very popular, as was holding a prayer service,
followed by a procession to the church where Mass would be offered.
"Sacred" Theater.
According to some scholars the
beautiful sequence Victimae Paschali Laudes sung during the Easter Mass
in the traditional Roman rite is the inspiration for the development of medieval religious drama.
The poem's dialogic structure, with its question and answer format, became the
foundation on which more lines were added until a separate play was formed.
This play, in turn, inspired the composition of the other medieval
"mystery" plays held on Christmas, Epiphany, Corpus Christi, and so
on. Solemn vespers and benediction were a traditional part of every Sunday
afternoon in many parishes, but especially so on Easter. Perhaps one reason for
this was the medieval custom of Easter
fables where, prior to the service, the priest would regale the
congregation with amusing anecdotes and whimsical yarns. This served as a sort
of antidote to the many sad or stern Lenten sermons of the previous weeks.
The entire Octave of Easter
constitutes an extended exultation in Christ's victory over death. Obviously,
the two most important days of this Octave are the two Sundays. As mentioned
elsewhere, Low Sunday was once the day that the neophytes took off their white
robes and resumed their lives in the daily world, and it was also the
traditional time for children to receive Holy Communion. Other days of the
Octave, however, also had distinctive customs of their own.
·
Easter
Monday was
reserved as a special day for rest and relaxation. Its most distinctive feature
is the Emmaus walk, a leisurely constitution inspired by the Gospel
of the day (Luke 24.13-35). This can take the form of a stroll through field or
forest or, as in French Canada, a visit to one's grandparents.
·
Games
of mischief dating to pre-Christian times also take place on Easter
Monday and Tuesday. Chief among them is drenching customs,
where boys surprise girls with buckets of water, and vice versa, or switching
customs, where switches are gently used on each other.
·
Easter
Thursday in Slavic
countries, on the other hand, was reserved for remembering departed loved ones.
Mass that day would be offered for the deceased of the parish.
·
Finally,
Easter
Friday was a favorite day for pilgrimages in many parts of
Europe. Large groups would take rather long processions to a shrine or church,
where Mass would be offered.
Divine Mercy Novena[7]
Third Day - Today Bring Me All Devout and
Faithful Souls.
Most
Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in the
great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most
Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by that
most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely.
Eternal
Father turn Your Merciful gaze upon faithful souls, as upon the inheritance of
Your Son. For the sake of His Sorrowful Passion, grant them Your blessing and
surround them with Your constant protection. Thus, may they never fail in love
or lost the treasure of the holy faith, but rather, with all the hosts of
Angels and Saints, may they glorify Your boundless mercy for endless ages.
Amen.
Novena for the Poor
Souls[8]
O Mother most
merciful, pray for the souls in Purgatory!
PRAYER OF ST.
GERTRUDE THE GREAT O Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of
Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world
today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory and for sinners everywhere— for
sinners in the Universal Church, for those in my own home and for those within
my family. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE
DYING O Most Merciful Jesus, lover of souls, I pray Thee, by the agony of Thy
most Sacred Heart, and by the sorrows of Thine Immaculate Mother, to wash in
Thy Most Precious Blood the sinners of the whole world who are now in their
agony and who will die today. Heart of Jesus, once in agony, have mercy on the
dying! Amen.
ON EVERY DAY OF
THE NOVENA V. O Lord, hear my prayer; R. And let my cry come unto Thee. O God,
the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant unto the souls of Thy
servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that through our devout
supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired, Who livest
and reignest world without end. Amen.
SUNDAY O Lord
God Almighty, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus
shed in the Garden, deliver the souls in Purgatory, and especially that one
which is the most forsaken of all, and bring it into Thy glory, where it may
praise and bless Thee forever. Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE:
THE PROFESSION OF
FAITH
SECTION
ONE
"I
BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
CHAPTER THREE
MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD
Article 2
WE BELIEVE
166 Faith is
a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God
who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe
alone, just as no one can live alone.
You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. the
believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our
love for Jesus and for our neighbor impels us to speak to others about our
faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot
believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help
support others in the faith.
167 "I believe"
(Apostles' Creed) is the faith of the Church professed personally by each
believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe"
(Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the
bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of
believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to
God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We
believe
The
Week Ahead
·
Easter Octave-plan to attend Mass daily or
adoration.
·
Apr 18th Easter
Monday
o
Plan a hike with the Lord and friends
· Apr
19th Tuesday
o
Water plants not each other
§
Games
of mischief dating to pre-Christian times also take place on Easter
Monday and Tuesday. Chief among them is drenching customs,
where boys surprise girls with buckets of water, and vice versa, or switching
customs, where switches are gently used on each other.
· Apr 20th Wednesday
o
Be
a Wheatie
not a Weedy
· Apr 21st Thursday
o Have a Mass said for the departed;
offer your daily communion.
§
Easter
Thursday in Slavic
countries, on the other hand, was reserved for remembering departed loved ones.
Mass that day would be offered for the deceased of the parish.
·
Apr 22nd
Friday
o Plan a pilgrimage;
go to a shrine; do a Divine
Mercy Hike.
§ Easter Friday was
a favorite day for pilgrimages in many parts of Europe. Large groups would take
rather long processions to a shrine or church, where Mass would be offered.
·
Apr 23rd-Prepare
for Divine
Mercy Sunday
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Individuals
with Mental Illness note: We pray for
Politian’s separately
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 9 day 1
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Make reparations to the Holy Face
·
30
Days with St. Joseph Day 30
[1]Amorth, Fr. Gabriele. An Exorcist
Explains the Demonic: The Antics of Satan and His Army of Fallen Angels
[4] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[5] http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year/lent/april-21.cfm
[7]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1032
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